Where Have All the Happily Ever Afters Gone?
by Gillian Taylor
Summary: Once upon a time...


Title: Where Have all the Happily Ever   
Afters Gone?  
Author: Gillian Taylor  
Email: usstrustno1@hotmail.com   
Rating: PG-13  
Category: V, R, A  
Spoilers: Requiem   
Keywords: Implied MSR, Scully Angst   
Summary: Once upon a time...  
  
Archive: Gossamer, Ephemeral, anywhere.   
Just drop me a line so I can visit and get a   
cheap thrill out of having my story up   
somewhere where it can be appreciated.   
  
Disclaimer: Sadly, I can lay no claim to the   
characters from the X-Files. If I could, I   
would die a happy woman. Mulder, Scully,   
and Doggett belong to Ten Thirteen   
Productions and I'm only borrowing them for   
my own perverse enjoyment.  
  
Author's notes: Thanks, as usual, go to my   
beta, Crysta.   
  
  
"Where Have all the Happily Ever Afters   
Gone?"  
by Gillian Taylor  
  
Once upon a time, in a land not so far away,   
a man met a woman in a dark basement and   
nothing would ever be the same again. Years   
passed by them both, solidifying a bond that   
was beyond anything that either had   
experienced before. Comprised of equal   
parts of love, trust, faith, and belief it   
withstood trials that would bring a lesser   
bond to its knees. And then...one part of   
that same bond disappeared and the woman was   
left to fend for herself. And in that   
moment, her world cried out in one voice:   
Where have all the happily ever afters gone?  
  
******  
  
Pink laces, faery castles, and shining   
knights on white horses - these were the   
things that roamed through a young Dana   
Scully's mind. Now, as the years have worn   
on, those childhood fantasies had   
disappeared to be replaced by the harsh   
realities of an adult world. However, the   
child inside of her continued to believe   
that no matter how long it would take, a   
happily ever after awaited her at the end of   
the road.  
  
Now, that previously unshakable belief had   
been shattered. Long nights had passed with   
no leads, and she had been forced to put her   
search for Mulder aside to take on other   
cases with her new partner. There were no   
happily ever afters for Dana Scully now.   
Instead there were early morning trips to   
the restroom and the pain from surviving   
solely on memories.  
  
Tears burned her eyes and her throat as she   
stared at the lone photo that rested upon   
the soft swell of her pregnant stomach, but   
nothing fell from her crystalline eyes. She   
was hollow, for the best half of her was   
gone. Now, all that remained of him was a   
memory, and a well-worn photograph. To her,   
the photo showed with precision the dynamic   
between herself and her former partner. She   
was staring intently at him, her face   
wearing that skeptical amused expression   
that she affected so well while he was   
leaning over her, telling her about some   
paranormal theory that could explain what   
had happened at the crime scene. A fond   
smile touched her lips as she traced his   
frame with a finger, in that moment reliving   
her years at his side and missing him more   
than ever. A tear blurred his features, its   
owner unable to keep up the fragile control   
any more.  
  
It had been five months, five long months of   
wonder at the life that she carried within   
her and sadness that he would not be able to   
experience that same wonder with her. He   
was gone; whisked away from her and their   
baby by the whims of the dying remnants of   
the Consortium. There was a time, months   
ago, that she waited deep in the forest from   
where he had disappeared, intent on waiting   
for him. However, Skinner had brought her   
back with a fervent promise that he would do   
all that he could to find Mulder and bring   
him home.  
  
Chasing futile lead after futile lead had   
worn her down, convincing her more than ever   
that he was gone. Day to day life was only   
worth it for the sake of the child that she   
carried within her being, someone that she   
had already grown to love unconditionally.   
She was a mother to be, but instead of pre-  
natal parties and shopping sprees she   
scanned tabloids in her darkened apartment   
for any lead that might lead her back to   
him.   
  
Futility screamed through her soul, and she   
allowed a single tear to fall, blurring his   
familiar features even more. 'Mulder.' It   
was a breath, a word that her soul keened   
with the voice of her Irish ancestors; it   
was someone and something that she would   
never have again. The pregnant woman heaved   
a little as she struggled to contain the   
grief that she had worn like a cloak since   
he had disappeared.  
  
And now, all she could wonder both aloud and   
deep within her was 'Where have all the   
happily ever afters gone?'  
  
If only she could find them again.  
  
Scully had found some solace in her work,   
though her every breath screamed at her that   
it was not Doggett that should be at her   
side but Mulder. 'Mulder...' she thought   
again, and her hands clenched at her sides   
in unconscious longing.  
  
She stood abruptly, and the photograph   
fluttered to the ground. His face seemed to   
stare at her accusingly, though in the   
photograph he was staring intently at the   
'Scully' of two years ago. The red haired   
woman closed her eyes against the harsh burn   
of the tears that had never truly left her.   
  
Futility had set up a permanent residence   
within her, though she had fought against   
its onset. She had tried. She had tried   
all that she could to find him, to bring him   
home. But even her best was unable to find   
where he had gone or to set into motion the   
steps that would bring him back to her arms   
where he belonged.   
  
She stepped away from the photograph and his   
burning, beloved hazel eyes to stare into   
the frosty Washington night. However, deep   
within her, something had begun to harden   
and to grow. It was determination,   
something that she had not realized that she   
had lost. Her hand caressed the mound that   
housed her unborn child and she spoke softly   
to it and to the night, "I won't stop   
looking for you, Mulder...and we'll make   
that happily ever after come true. We have   
to. We need to...I need you to."   
  
The woman's breath caught in her throat as   
she rested her head against the cold   
windowpane. "I need my happily ever   
after..."  
  
And she would do all that she could to find   
it.  
  
***  
  
Once upon a time, in a land not so far away,   
a man met a woman in a dark basement and   
nothing would ever be the same again. Years   
passed by them both, solidifying a bond that   
was beyond anything that either had   
experienced before. Comprised of equal   
parts of love, trust, faith, and belief it   
withstood trials that would bring a lesser   
bond to its knees. And then...one part of   
that same bond disappeared and the woman was   
left to fend for herself. Though she was   
torn between depression and exultation over   
the precious gift that he had left behind,   
she made a vow to herself and to her unborn.   
There would be a happily ever after for them   
some day. She would make it happen.   
  



End file.
